Fatty Arbuckle Biography (Comedian/Filmmaker) Died: 28 June 1933 (heart attack) Birthplace: Smith Center, Kansas Best known as: The rotund silent film comedian Name at birth: Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle Fatty Arbuckle was one of the first great silent film comedians. He's especially remembered for his work with Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops. In 1921, at the peak of his fame, Arbuckle was accused of involvement in the death of actress Virginia Rappe after a raucous party. Arbuckle was acquitted of manslaughter, but the incident ruined his career. He later directed films under the pseudonym William B. Goodrich. Copyright © 1998-2017 by Who2?, LLC. All rights reserved. Advertisement Advertisement Fatty Arbuckle Biography (Comedian/Filmmaker) Died: 28 June 1933 (heart attack) Birthplace: Smith Center, Kansas Best known as: The rotund silent film comedian Name at birth: Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle Fatty Arbuckle was one of the first great silent film comedians.

He's especially remembered for his work with Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops. In 1921, at the peak of his fame, Arbuckle was accused of involvement in the death of actress Virginia Rappe after a raucous party. Arbuckle was acquitted of manslaughter, but the incident ruined his career. He later directed films under the pseudonym William B. Goodrich. Copyright © 1998-2017 by Who2?, LLC. All rights reserved. ï¿½ Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle - Silent Comedian - goldensilents.com Golden Silents / Silent Film Clips / Message Board Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (1887-1933) Silent film comedian Roscoe "Fatty Arbuckle" was born Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle in Galveston, Texas on March 24th, 1887 and educated in St. Louis, Missouri. At age eight Roscoe appeared on the stage for the first time. His first roles were with the Webster-Brown Stock Company.

He was on the stage performing everything from acrobatic acts to clown acts to a singing act, performing illustrated songs for Sid Grauman at the Unique Theater, San Jose. He also worked for the Morosco Burbank stock company and traveled throughout China and Japan with the Ferris Hartman company. He even managed his own stock company for a time. Roscoe eventually went to work for Mack Sennett's studio Keystone circa 1909 starting at $40 a week. He appeared in hundreds of one-reel comedies. He played mostly policeman, usually with the Keystone Kops. He learned about the process of making movies from talented director Henry Lehrman, who directed all but two of his films. Fatty, far right, in his days as a Keystone Kop Roscoe was a gentle and sensitive man off-screen and always believed that Sennett did not think he was funny. Roscoe never used his weight to gain a laugh. He was remarkably agile and athletic for his size and used those talents to find humor in situations. By 1914 Roscoe had also directed some of his own one-reelers. By 1915, he would move up to two-reelers.

He appeared in many successful comedy films with screen comedienne Mabel Norman d as his sidekick, with titles such as "Mabel, Fatty and the Law" (1915), "Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day" (1915), "Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco" (1915), "Fatty's Reckless Fling" (1915), etc. Roscoe was married three times, the first time to actress Minta Durfee from 1909-1925, who stood by him during his later legal troubles, and then to actress Doris Deane from 1925 to 1928, then to actress Addie McPhail from 1932 until his death in 1933. In 1917 Roscoe formed a partnership with producer Joseph M. Schenck, husband of Norma Talmadge . The company was named Comique and the films that Roscoe made were released through Famous Players-Lasky on a percentage basis. His salary during this time averaged an astounding $5,000 to $7,000 a week.

At Comique Roscoe had complete creative control over his productions. He hired a young performer whom he had met in New York by the name of Buster Keaton . Buster Keaton's film career would start with Roscoe in "The Butcher Boy" (1917 - surviving), and Buster remained grateful to Roscoe his entire life. Roscoe wrote his own scenarios and then improvised to generate additional laughs. With such great success it was just a matter of time before Roscoe was hired to do feature length films. It was Paramount who asked Roscoe to move from the two reel films to feature films. In 1920 Roscoe's first full length feature was the successful "The Roundup". It would soon be followed by other features such as "Brewster's Millions" (1920), "Gasoline Gus" (1921), and "Leap Year" (1921). His last silent film appearance was in Buster's "Go West" (1925) in an uncredited role. By that time Buster was the star and Roscoe had been destroyed. Tragedy would strike Roscoe on Labor Day, 1921 with his arrest and trial on murder charges.

Roscoe had thrown a party which was crashed by a disreputable bit player named Virginia Rappe. The girl fell seriously ill during the festivities and died a few days later. The newspapers, led by the William Randolph Hearst group, would make this incident Hollywood's first truly major scandal. Hearst later boasted to Buster Keaton that he had sold more papers about the Arbuckle-Rappe tragedy than he had at the sinking of the Lusitania. Although eventually acquitted after a third trial in 1923, Roscoe's career appeared finished, since the papers had printed unfounded story after story about his supposed guilt for months, which had fueled a public outcry of moral outrage across the nation. His films had been banned and withdrawn. Unable to return to the screen, Roscoe later found work as a comedy director for his nephew Al St. John, Buster Keaton and others, under the pseudonym William Goodrich. He also directed Eddie Cantor's first films. In 1932, Sam Sax signed Roscoe to appear in comic shorts for Warner Brothers starting with "Hey, Pop" (1932).

Roscoe would complete six shorts and once again show the fine comedic timing and youthful spirit that he had a decade before. With the success of the shorts, Warner Brothers signed Roscoe to a feature film contract, but sadly he died in his sleep of heart failure at age 46, the night after he signed the agreement, on June 29th, 1933 in New York City. ~ Copyright © 2004 goldensilents.com Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle's Silent Films Go West (1925) (uncredited) .... Woman in department store Sainted Devil, A (1924) Fatty Arbuckle biography | birthday, trivia | American Comedian | Who2 Fatty Arbuckle Biography Name at birth: Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle Fatty Arbuckle was one of the first great silent film comedians. He’s especially remembered for his work with Mack Sennett’s Keystone Kops. In 1921, at the peak of his fame, Arbuckle was accused of involvement in the death of actress Virginia Rappe after a raucous party. Arbuckle was acquitted of manslaughter, but the incident ruined his career.

He later directed films under the pseudonym William B. Goodrich. Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle - Biography - IMDb Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle Biography Showing all 59 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (3) | Trade Mark (3) | Trivia (33) | Personal Quotes (12) | Salary (2) Overview (5) 5' 9" (1.75 m) Mini Bio (1) Roscoe Arbuckle, one of nine children, was the baby of the family who weighed a reported 16 pounds at birth. Born in Smith Center, Kansas, on March 24, 1887, his family moved to California when he was a year old. At age eight he appeared on the stage. His first part was with the Webster-Brown Stock Company. From then until 1913, Roscoe was on the stage, performing as an acrobat, clown and singer. His first real professional engagement was in 1904, singing illustrated songs for Sid Grauman at the Unique Theater in San Jose, CA, at $17.50 a week.

He later worked in the Morosco Burbank stock company and traveled through China and Japan with Ferris Hartman. His last appearance on the stage was with Hartman in Yokahama, Japan, in 1913, where he played the Mikado. Back in Hollywood, Arbuckle went to work at Mack Sennett 's Keystone film studio at $40 a week. For the next 3-1/2 years he never starred or even featured, but appeared in hundreds of one-reel comedies. He would play mostly policemen, usually with the Keystone Kops , but he also played different parts. He would work with Mabel Normand , Ford Sterling , Charles Chaplin , among others, and would learn about the process of making movies from Henry Lehrman , who directed all but two of his pictures. Roscoe was a gentle and genteel man off screen and always believed that Sennett never thought that he was funny. Roscoe never used his weight to get a laugh. He would never be found stuck in a chair or doorway. He was remarkably agile for his size and used that agility to find humor in situations. By 1914 he had begun directing some of his one-reels.

The next year he had moved up to two-reels, which meant that he would need to sustain the comedy to be successful--as it turned out, he was. Among his films were Fatty Again (1914), Mabel, Fatty and the Law (1915), Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day (1915), Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco (1915), Fatty's Reckless Fling (1915), and many more. For "Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco", Keystone took the actors to the real World's Fair to use as background; the studio's cost was negligible, while the San Francisco backgrounds made the picture look expensive. By 1917 Roscoe formed a partnership with Joseph M. Schenck , a powerful producer who was also the husband of Norma Talmadge . The company they formed was called Comique and the films that Roscoe made were released through Famous Players on a percentage basis, and soon Arbuckle was making over $1,000 a week. With his own company Roscoe had complete creative control over his productions.

He also hired a young performer he met in New York by the name of Buster Keaton . Keaton's film career would start with Roscoe in The Butcher Boy (1917). Roscoe wrote his own stories first, tried them out and then devised funny twists to generate the laughs. His comedy star was second only to Charles Chaplin. With the success of Comique, Paramount asked Roscoe to move from two-reel shorts to full-length features in 1919. Roscoe's first feature was The Round-Up (1920) and it was successful. It was soon followed by other features, including Brewster's Millions (1921) and Gasoline Gus (1921). Ufortunately, tragedy struck on Labor Day on September 5, 1921 with the arrest and trial of Roscoe Arbuckle on manslaughter charges. Roscoe's roommate had thrown a party in their San Francisco hotel suite, which was crashed by a "starlet" named Virginia Rappe , who fell seriously ill and died three days later from a ruptured bladder. Rappe had accused Arbuckle of raping her prior to passing away, but Rappe had a history of accusing men of rape.

The newspapers, led by William Randolph Hearst , used this incident to generate Hollywood's first major scandal. Roscoe was tried not once but three times for the criminal charges; the trials began in November 1921 and lasted until April 1922; the first two ended with hung juries (the mistrial decision in the second trial was reached on February 3, 1922, the day after Arbuckle's friend and fellow Paramount director William Desmond Taylor was found murdered, and Arbuckle was visibly affected by the news). At his third and final trial in April of 1922, the jury not only returned a "not guilty" verdict but excoriated the prosecution for pursuing a flimsy case with no evidence of Arbuckle having committed any crime; it was at this final trial that the jury went further, writing a personal letter of sympathy and apology to Arbuckle for putting him through this ordeal. He kept it as a treasured memento for the rest of his life. However, Arbuckle's acquittal marked the end of his comedic acting career. Unable to return to the screen, he later found work as a comedy director for Al St.

John , Buster Keaton and others under the pseudonym "William Goodrich" (he was inspired to use this pseudonym by Keaton, who suggested Arbuckle use the name "Will B. Good"). In 1932 producer Samuel Sax signed Roscoe to appear in his very first sound comic short films for Warner Brothers, starting with Hey, Pop! (1932). He completed six shorts and showed the magic and youthful spirit that he had a decade before. With the success of the shorts, Warner Brothers signed Roscoe to a feature film contract, but he died in his sleep on June 29, 1933 , at age 46, the night after he signed the contract. ( 6 August 1908 - 27 January 1925) (divorced) Trade Mark (3) Apart from the fact that he was overweight and thus nicknamed "Fatty," he usually wore bowler-hat and pants whose legs were too short. Rolling perfect cigarettes with a couple quick motions of one hand Remarkable agility and dexterity, especially for a man of his girth Trivia (33) Obese comic actor whose career was ended by a scandal.

Directed under the name William Goodrich. He let it be known that his alternate pseudonym of Will B. Good was evidence of his pledge to walk the straight and narrow. After his career was ruined, Buster Keaton personally supported him as repayment for giving him his break into film. Weighed 300 pounds (ca. 135 kilograms) at the height of his career. Was tried three times for rape and manslaughter of Virginia Rappe . The first trial (November 14-December 4, 1921) ended with the jury deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal. The second trial (January 11-February 3, 1922) also ended in a hung jury; this time the majority had ruled against Roscoe - 10 to 2 for conviction. The third trial (March 13-April 12, 1922) finally ended with an acquittal after the jury deliberated for less than 5 minutes compared with 43 hours straight in the first trial and 44 hours in the second trial. Uncle of actor/comedian Al St. John .

It is often reported that Arbuckle's career as an actor ended with the rape trials and that he died forgotten. In fact, Arbuckle was in the midst of starring in a series of successful shorts and was on his way back up when he died. Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith; pg. 21-22. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387 An excellent breakdown of the rape/murder scandal is "Frame-Up!: the Untold Story of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle", by Andy Edmonds. He was the very first actor to be paid a million dollars a year. A screenplay about his life floated around Hollywood for years but never got sold. At one point, John Belushi was considered for the role, then John Candy , then Chris Farley . All three died suddenly and the script has been shelved indefinitely. The legend that his box office clout faltered after the scandal is not entirely true.

Actually his films were making just as much money as they had been before the scandal, the problem was that with all the scathing headlines about him, studios were reluctant about putting him under contract and so he had problems getting work. It was written in his contract that his weight remain above 250 pounds and that he would be given a healthy yearly bonus if he exceeded that by 50 to 100 pounds. He kept his weight well over 300 during his career. Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 11-13. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Some filmographies credit him as co-director of the film Sherlock Jr. (1924). The confusion comes from the fact that Buster Keaton did originally hope to have Arbuckle work as his co-director on the film, but ultimately Arbuckle was still too depressed over the scandal that had nearly ended his career three years earlier, and had become difficult to work with, so Keaton went ahead as the sole director of the film.

The claim that Arbuckle was a co-director on the film was substantiated by Minta Durfee ; however, her claims lose credibility when she also stated that Arbuckle was the sole screenwriter of the film. The script was definitely written by Joseph A. Mitchell , Jean C. Havez and Clyde Bruckman , Keaton's usual team of gag-men from this era. Historians agree there is no credibility to the claim that Arbuckle ever directed so much as a frame of the movie. Met Buster Keaton accidentally one day while strolling down Broadway in New York City with vaudeville veteran Lou Anger . Anger, who was an old stage acquaintance of Keaton's, introduced them. Arbuckle immediately invited Keaton to visit the Colony Studio where he was about start a series of two-reel comedies for Joseph M. Schenck . The famous duo was thusly formed. Had a "wonderful" singing voice and was extremely agile. Is the subject of the novel "I, Fatty" by Jerry Stahl . Started his movie career in 1909 with the Selig Polyscope Company. Joined Keystone Studios as a member of the Keystone Kops in 1913.

Is the only person to have the three top silent film comedians, Charles Chaplin , Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd appear in supporting roles in his films; Chaplin assists Arbuckle in The Knockout (1914); Lloyd is his co-star in Miss Fatty's Seaside Lovers (1915); and Keaton supported him in at least 14 shorts. Although he divorced his first wife Minta Durfee in 1925, they did in fact separate as early as in 1917. Signed a contract for Paramount Pictures in 1920 for $1,000,000. Once owned a quarry in southern California. Two months after he sold the quarry, oil was discovered on the property. Began his career as an entertainer in vaudeville at age 12 in order to survive, after his mother died and his alcoholic father had abandoned him. In 1924, he hired Bob Hope as a "cheap act" for his traveling vaudeville show. After seeing Hope perform at the Bandbox Theater in Cleveland, Arbuckle sensed he would be a major star if he just had the right break.

He contacted some friends in Los Angeles and instructed Hope to do the same. Hope eventually followed his advice and headed west. Arbuckle hated the nickname "Fatty" and insisted that his friends and acquaintances always address him by his real first name, Roscoe. He was the first movie star in America to systematically direct his own films. He directed most of his output from 1914 and onwards. Profiled in "American Classic Screen Profiles" by John C. Tibbets and James M. Welch (2010). In 1927, he was engaged to direct and star a series of comedy shorts for producer Abe Carlos. The films were to be shot in Berlin and distributed internationally, and Arbuckle's then wife Doris Deane was to star with him. The films were never produced, and it's unknown if Arbuckle saw any financial gain from the deal. He was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6701 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

A fictionalized version of the events that destroyed Arbuckle's career appears in James Ivory 's film The Wild Party (1975) starring James Coco as a silent film star based on the comedian. He was the recipient of the first custard pie to be thrown in a film -A Noise From the Deep (1913) It was thrown by Mabel Normand. Personal Quotes (12) [on his sex-and-murder scandal in 1921] I don't understand it. One minute I'm the guy everybody loves, the next I'm the guy everybody loves to hate. [when he was called "Fatty" off-screen, a nickname he hated] I got a name, you know. [on his first wedding anniversary, shortly before his death] This is the best day of my life. I shall produce nothing that will offend the proprieties whether applied to children or grown-ups. My pictures are turned out with clean hands and therefore with a clear conscience which, like virtue, is its own reward.

Nothing would grieve me more than to have mothers say, "Let's not go there [in cinema] today, Arbuckle is playing and he isn't fit for children to see." I want them to think always otherwise for me, for as long as I can please the kiddies, I don't care who entertains their elders. [on Charles Chaplin ] I have always regretted not having been his partner in a longer film than these one-reelers we made so rapidly. He is a complete comic genius, undoubtedly the only one of our time and he will be the only one who will be still talked about a century from now. I don't believe there is any finer mission on earth than just to make people laugh. My birth and a cyclone blew Smith Center [Kansas] off the map. You only star in movies from picture to picture. If two or three pictures are bad, you're not a star anymore. It's a constant worry. That's why movie people are temperamental. It's a terrible strain! I've never used my weight to get a laugh. That is, used my size as the subject for humor. You never saw me stuck in a doorway or stuck in a chair.

If you'll analyze my pictures you'll see that they're humorous in themselves, except, of course, that the audience remarks about the agility on account of the weight. Titles and trademarks don't count. They're no good unless the picture is funny. How did I become a star? I don't know how it happened. When I look at my old pictures, I can't tell how it happened! No price is too high to pay for a good laugh. A good laugh...is the most worthwhile thing in life. Salary (2) 1000+ images about Roscoe ´Fatty´ Arbuckle on Pinterest | Roscoe arbuckle, Scandal and Comedians Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Roscoe ´Fatty´ Arbuckle Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle 03-24-1887 – 06-29-1933, an American silent film actor, comedian, director, & screenwriter. Starting at the Selig Polyscope Company he eventually moved to Keystone Studios where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd. He mentored Charlie Chaplin and discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope.

Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s, and soon became one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, 69 Pins363 Followers Comedy Films COMEDY FILMS Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Examples Earliest Comedy: Cinematic comedy can be considered the oldest film genre (and one of the most prolific and popular). Comedy was ideal for the early silent films, as it was dependent on visual action and physical humor rather than sound. Slapstick, one of the earliest forms of comedy, poked fun at farcical situations of physical mishap and indignity, usually in pratfalls, practical jokes, accidents, acrobatic death-defying stunts, water soakings, or wild chase scenes with trains and cars.

[Burlesque is another form of early comedy, characterized by unrefined and broad humor, designed to produce ridicule.] Pioneers in the early days of silent cinema and film-making, the Lumiere Brothers, included a short comedy film in their very first public screening in 1895 titled Watering the Gardener or "The Sprinkler Sprinkled" (L'Arroseur Arrose). Its predictable subject matter included a man with a garden watering hose who was tricked into being soaked by a prankster child. Keystone Studios: It took until 1912 for American comedy to emerge. The first comics were trained by performing in the circus, in burlesque, vaudeville (music halls), or pantomime. Film entrepreneur Mack Sennett, soon nicknamed "The King of Comedy" and "The Master of Slapstick Comedy," formed the Keystone Company (and Studios) in 1912 - it soon was the leading producer of slapstick and comic characters. The major hallmark of Sennett's career work was inventive, visual, improvised comedy displayed in short silent films that moved frantically.

His early short comedies featured wild slapstick chase finales, visual gags and stunts, and speedy, zany action. The action appeared all the more frantic and frenzied by his use of a filming technique whereby he shot the pictures at a slow camera speed, and then accelerated the frames in the projector during playback. He often cast vaudevillian, burlesque, and circus performers in his films. Those with exaggerated or grotesque looks (obese, cross-eyed, lanky, leering, pop-eyed, etc.) were chosen to add to the unreality of the situations. His most popular pictures involved his bumbling comedy policemen, the Keystone Cops. There would be flying pies, bricks, careening vehicles with people hanging off, crashes, and other dangerous-looking stunts. Cinema's first custard-pie-in-the-face was in Sennett's silent film comedy A Noise From the Deep (1913), in which comedian Mabel Normand, a farmgirl threw a pie into the kisser of obese farmhand Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.

Eccentric comic artists (and character actors) included Arbuckle, Edgar Kennedy, Mabel Normand, zany and cross-eyed Ben Turpin, Mack Swain, Billy Bevan, Charley Chase and Chester Conklin. [Even Carole Lombard began her career at Keystone.] Charlie Chaplin got his start at Keystone (his first film was the short Making a Living (1914)) and made numerous short films from 1914-1919 (for Keystone, Essanay, Mutual, and First National), until his first full-length feature that he directed, wrote, and acted in, The Kid (1921) - see below. The Silent Era Clowns Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was one of the earliest silent film comedians (as well as director and screenwriter).

He started out with the Selig Polyscope Company in 1909 (his first film was Ben's Kid (1909)), and then went onto Universal Pictures in 1913 where he appeared in several of Mack Sennett's Keystone Comedies films, noted for fast-paced chase sequences and 'pie-in-the-face' segments. Arbuckle was the first of the silent comedians to direct his own films, starting with Barnyard Flirtations (1914). His teaming with Mabel Normand at Keystone, in a series of "Fatty and Mabel" films, were lucrative for the studio. In 1917, Arbuckle formed his own production company ("Comique Film Corporation") with producer Joseph Schenck which afforded more creative control, hiring Buster Keaton to star in his first film The Butcher Boy (1917). He used his 'fatness' as part of his sight gags, and his slightly-vulgar but sweet and playful character became extremely popular with younger audiences. By 1919, he had secured at $3 million/3-year contract with Paramount Pictures - the first multi-year, multi-million dollar deal for a Hollywood studio.

It is little mentioned that Arbuckle mentored and aided Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin as they entered the film business, before his own downfall in the early 1920s. He was accused of the rape and murder of young starlet Virginia Rappe in San Francisco in a widely-publicized case -- and thoroughly chastised by Hearst's 'trial-by newspaper' (with soaring sales) and public condemnation. His career was over, although he was eventually fully acquitted of the act after three trials. Charlie Chaplin: Charlie Chaplin, a silent actor and pantomimist, was recruited in 1913 to Keystone from an English variety act (Chaplin was touring the US with Fred Karno's theatrical company), and became Sennett's most important discovery to add to his stock company of comedic actors. Chaplin made 36 short Keystone films for producer Mack Sennett in 1914. His first film was the short Keystone comedy Making a Living (1914), released in early February of 1914, in which Chaplin played an out-of-work swindler named Edgar English (with top hat and mustache).

It was one of only a few Chaplin films where the actor did not play the Tramp character. In Chaplin's second picture, the 11-minute Kid Auto Races in Venice (1914), the first released film (on February 7, 1914) with the Little Tramp character, he attended a 'baby-cart' race in Venice, California as an obnoxious spectator who kept interrupting the filming of the auto races. Released two days later (on February 9, 1914), although filmed earlier (and considered the first Tramp film), Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914) was the one in which the immortal, trademark Tramp character was born or invented. Although not named "The Tramp" (his character was a slapstick happy Drunk or Slicker), Chaplin wore the characteristic baggy pants, floppy oversized shoes, walking cane, tight coat, and small derby (or bowler) hat and walked with a funny stride. Late in the year, Chaplin appeared as another city slicker in Sennett's first feature-length feature film, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) opposite co-star Mabel Normand.

It was the first feature length comedy film ever, and it was also notable as the last full-length film that Chaplin made that he didn't direct or write. In 1915, Chaplin worked for the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company (in Chicago) as writer/director and star, where he made 15 films during the year. His first Tramp masterpiece and his 6th film for Essanay (released in April), The Tramp (1915), showed evidence of the refined development of the character and his personality (with less slapstick and more emotion). Then, he went on to produce a dozen two-reelers for Mutual Film Corporation in 1916-1917. The company formed "Lone Star Studios" solely for Chaplin's films. Classics that were made included The Floorwalker (1916), The Vagabond (1916), The Pawnshop (1916), The Rink (1916), Easy Street (1917), The Cure (1917), and The Immigrant (1917).

At First National beginning in 1918 through to 1923, Chaplin made nine films for his own production company. There were one major masterpiece during this time - it was his first full-length starring feature that he directed, titled The Kid (1921) which paired him with young Jackie Coogan. Then, beginning in 1923, Chaplin began to release his own films (all feature-length, and 8 in total) through his own film studio, United Artists. These were further examples of his talent with "silent" features, even though the silent era was ending and the sound era had arrived: The Gold Rush (1925) , another full-length comedy and Chaplin's best silent film, with segments of poetic miming and classic slapstick the exquisite Modern Times (1936) , his satire on the machine-age Chaplin resisted the coming of the talkies until his first talking picture The Great Dictator (1940). Another talkie was Limelight (1952) - a film with silent comedian Buster Keaton as co-star.

Buster Keaton: One of the great silent clowns of the early comedic period was Buster Keaton, known for acrobatic visual gags, physical action, and for his deadpan, unsmiling, expression-less "stoneface." (His first name was a nickname given to him by Harry Houdini after he fell down some steps.) Keaton was first a vaudeville performer, performing and partnering quite often with former Keystone star and mentor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. He entered the profession of film-making in 1917 at the age of twenty-one as a supporting player, in his film debut The Butcher Boy (1917).

Then, he started his own production company and became an actor in his own production unit in many excellent short films (usually two-reelers) from 1920-1923, including One Week (1920), Neighbors (1920), The High Sign (1921), The Boat (1921), The Haunted House (1921), The Playhouse (1921), The Paleface (1921), Hard Luck (1921), and The Frozen North (1922), but none as a repeating character. A few years later, he also starred in a number of feature-length silents, his first being The Three Ages (1923). Among his best features were Our Hospitality (1923), The Navigator (1924), Sherlock, Jr. (1924), Go West (1925), Seven Chances (1925), and Battling Butler (1926).

His most-acclaimed feature-length production was the fast-paced Civil War adventure tale of a railroad engine called The General (1927) , which he soon followed with College (1927) and Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) . The latter film is known for one of the most suicidal stunts ever filmed - a falling wall with only a top-floor open window to save him from being flattened. [One of his last film appearances was as one of the 'waxworks' friends who plays bridge with silent film star Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950) .] Harold Lloyd: Harold Lloyd, a popular silent clown, has been dubbed the 'third' genius or master of silent comedy - after Chaplin and Keaton. [An actor/producer, he actually outgrossed his better-known counterparts, by retaining ownership of his films and their profits.] Like them, Lloyd also spent some time in the early years with Mack Sennett, became known for realistic, daredevil stunts, and for his bespectacled, neat, innocent, noble-hearted, 'average Joe' characters.

From 1915-1921, he produced a number of short films for Keystone and for major comedy producer Hal Roach, playing the character of Willie Work (debuting in his first starring film Just Nuts (1915) as a Chaplin-like character) and Lonesome Luke (first appearing in Lonesome Luke, Social Gangster (1915)). Lloyd graduated to full-length features playing the part of a normal Everyman (or "Glasses Character") or "Boy" - which debuted in the short Look Out Below (1919). His last short was Never Weaken (1921). He became most identified with this 'boy'-next-door character (normally named Harold) with his most famous trademark - horn-rimmed glasses. His most-remembered film, the feature-length Safety Last (1923) , featured his perilous, memorable climb up a tall skyscraper's face that climaxed with his hanging off a giant clock. Lloyd's career lasted 34 years with over 200 comedies (mostly short subject featurettes, but including 11 silent features and 7 sound features).

One of Lloyd's other greatest films was also his most successful, The Freshman (1925), in which he portrayed a college underclassman (Harold 'Speedy' Lamb) determined to redeem himself - on the football field. Other well-known films included Grandma's Boy (1922), Why Worry? (1923), Girl Shy (1924), The Kid Brother (1927), Speedy (1928) (his final silent film) and Movie Crazy (1932). His last film was released in 1947 - director Preston Sturges' The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947), retitled Mad Wednesday by co-producer Howard Hughes, re-edited and released by RKO in 1950. Harry Langdon: Another early comic performer was baby-faced, innocent, timid Harry Langdon, who also worked at Keystone. He experienced only a brief period of fame during the end of the silent era, although he could be placed in the same league as his three other comic contemporaries: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd.

His best feature film in a short four-year film career, The Strong Man (1926), was director Frank Capra's feature-film debut. The film predated Chaplin's City Lights (1931) by several years with its plot of a meek man in love with a blind woman. Langdon also starred in two other hits: Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) and Capra's Long Pants (1927) in which Langdon played his typical simple-minded, man/child role. Larry Semon: Another popular, second-level slapstick comedian in the silent era who made hundreds of two-reel shorts from 1916-1924 for Vitagraph and for the B-picture company, the Chadwick Pictures Corporation, was the charming, white-faced, smiling, and clownish Larry Semon. He began film work at Vitagraph in 1915 as comedy short gag writer and then as director in 1916.

His first feature-length film was also his best known and most influential work - a remake and adaptation of Baum's The Wizard of Oz (1925), with Semon serving as both director and star - as the Scarecrow opposite Oliver Hardy (of the comic team) who played the Tin Woodsman. The film's release was highly publicized, but the public didn't like it - and it was essentially a failed effort. Afterwards, he took a supporting role in Josef Von Sternberg's classic film Underworld (1927), and his last film, after filing for bankruptcy, was A Simple Sap (1928), released posthumously after his prematurely-short life. The 30s Clowns With the coming of sound, slapstick went into a bit of a decline and the flexible freedom of the earliest comedians was curtailed. Comedy was transformed, however, and began to be refined as an art form, with new themes, elements, and written characterizations, and comedic humor was now being derived from clever dialogue. Visual comedy remained strong throughout the 1930s, but now witty dialogue and verbal comedy were added.

Some of the great comedians or teams, including Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers, and Abbott and Costello, or individuals such as radio star Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Joe E. Brown, W. C. Fields, and Mae West emerged. Hal Roach's company was responsible for other ground-breaking comedy shorts during the 1930s, including the popular "Our Gang" series that lasted until 1944. Laurel and Hardy: One of the greatest and most-beloved of the comedy teams was the one of British-born Stan Laurel and the fat-faced Oliver Hardy, first purposely teamed together toward the close of the silent era by producer Hal Roach in the slapstick film Slipping Wives (1926). They had first met, by accident, during the filming of Lucky Dog in 1917.

Director Leo McCarey at Hal Roach Studios recognized their potential as a team and capitalized on their contrasting, disparate physical differences (Stan: the "thin" man and Oliver: the "fat" one - each with derby hats) and classic gestures (bewildered head-scratching, tie-twiddling, eye-blinking and baby-like weeping). Although Laurel and Hardy worked together as a successful comedy team for 20 years (and were precursors of the 50s team Abbott and Costello), they were not equal partners - Stan considered himself the creative force and "brains" of the team. Their dozens of short films and twenty-seven feature-length films were produced over three decades (the 20s to the 40s), including such film classics as Sons of the Desert (1933) - arguably their best film, Way Out West (1937) , The Flying Deuces (1939), and A Chump At Oxford (1940). One of their funniest bits involved getting a piano up a set of stairs in The Music Box (1932).

Laurel and Hardy's last Hollywood film was The Bullfighters (1945), capping a teamed career of almost twenty years. They were among the few actors who successfully made the transition from silents to talkies. Plots of their hilarious films used situational mishaps or incidents to trigger chaos and personal jeopardy, usually with the dignified, superior-acting, pompous Ollie trying to succeed and boast, only to be frustrated, exasperated and sabotaged by the simple-mindedness, childishness and brainlessness of Stan. Audiences were amused by their endearing qualities of naivete, clumsiness, innocence, and stupidity as they sunk deeper and deeper into trouble, chaos, and self-destruction. The Marx Brothers: Once talkies emerged, the most famous and popular comedy team was the zany foursome of the Marx Brothers.

They were the only real-life sibling comedy group in Hollywood history: the witty, wise-cracking, ad-libbing, absurdly-punning, caustic, fast-talking Groucho (famous for his crouched walk, mustache, cigar, round glasses and leering eyes) piano-playing, broken Italian-accented Chico, famous for distorted logic the mischievous mute-pantomimist/harpist Harpo (with an old taxi horn and numerous harp solos), known for chasing girls the straight-man Zeppo (who left the other brothers in 1933 after his performance in Duck Soup (1933) , his fifth film) Their comedy was a mixture of slapstick, sophisticated verbal comedy (often absurd and risque), zany anarchistic disrespect for the establishment, nonsensical action, and inspired buffoonery. After almost two decades in vaudeville together, the brothers finally received widespread attention in their screen debut, The Cocoanuts (1929), filmed at Paramount's East Coast studios.

Next were major box-office and critical successes - the film version of their Broadway play, Animal Crackers (1930) , Horse Feathers (1932) and their last film for Paramount - the political, anti-war satire/spoof Duck Soup (1933) . The Marx Brothers further developed their unique brand of absurdist, hilarious, slapstick comedy with a change to MGM Studios in the mid-30s. MGM's productions of A Night at the Opera (1935) with its memorable scenes of the stateroom and a legal contract, and A Day at the Races (1937) were made at the height of their popularity. A frequent romantic foil for Groucho who appeared in a number of their films was Margaret Dumont, a memorable character actress. The film career of the Marx Brothers extended from 1929 to 1949. Marx Brothers Groucho, Chico and Harpo made their final film appearance as a team in Love Happy (1949), with a young 23 year-old Marilyn Monroe. Later on, Groucho became a star as an early TV game-show host. W. C. Fields: W.

C. Fields is known for his recognizable raspy voice, pool cue, oversized bulbous nose and nasal drawl, stove-pipe hat, flask of 100-proof whiskey and love of drink, caustic verbal wit and wisecracks, and irritable disdain for small children, animals, upper-class snobs and bullying wives. The vaudeville star was an inspired comedian, a master of visual gags, double-takes, casual asides and pantomime. His film debut was in the silent one-reel comedy short Pool Sharks (1915), in which he showed off his pool-playing ability, and his first sound feature film was Warners' (and First National's) pre-code musical comedy Her Majesty, Love (1931). Fields usually wrote his own scripts and produced such classics for Paramount as It's A Gift (1934) and possibly his best film, The Bank Dick (1940) , in which he credited himself as screenwriter Mahatma Kane Jeeves.

Another wacky contribution was Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941) (written with the pseudonym of Otis Criblecoblis) - his last starring role in a feature-length film. Fields was a natural while portraying a hen-pecked husband, a phony, an eccentric, a windbag, a non-conformist schemer, or a pompous charlatan. Mae West: Another contemporary, wise-cracking, drawling performer was the bold, blowsy and flirtatious Mae West who enjoyed titillating and shocking audiences with double entendre dialogue, sexual innuendo and a desire for sex, especially before the advent of the Hays Production Code. [One of her typical lines was: "Listen, when women go wrong, men go right after them."] Mae West starred in her own films, notably as a buxom burlesque queen and singer in an 1890s saloon in She Done Him Wrong (1933) , and as a circus floozy in I'm No Angel (1933) . She also appeared with Fields in their only film together: My Little Chickadee (1940).

Question: What was the first name of the silent film comedian Fatty'Arbuckle?
Answer: Roscoe